Kevin Frisch: GOP is all opposition, all the time

Republicans have finally criticized the Obama administration’s position on Libya. What did they say? What took them so long? And what makes them right?

Kevin Frisch

NEWSCASTER: Good evening. After five long days, Republicans have finally criticized the Obama administration’s position on Libya. What did they say? What took them so long? And what makes them right? I’m Chip Gipperson and this is the Opposition News Network.

House Speaker John Boehner this week finally — finally! — confronted the Obama administration on its ham-handed and, frankly — and I say this as a disinterested newsman of some 20 years’ experience —unconscionable decisions in taking part in military operations in Libya. Joining me now is congressional correspondent Shepard Pye. Shepard, what took him so long?

PYE: Chip, you’re absolutely right. The U.S.-led military effort to establish a no-fly zone in Libya was in its fifth day before Speaker Boehner confronted the president. The speaker’s office tells me it was not reticence but good, old-fashioned American patriotism that caused the delay. There’s an unwritten rule that the president shouldn’t be criticized about military matters when he’s not on U.S. soil — even if his place of birth makes it highly unlikely that he legally IS the president.

GIPPERSON: And as we know, the president was on a five-day jaunt through Central and South America — taking in the sun while U.S. military commanders took responsibility for operations in Libya.

PYE: That’s right, Chip. Suspiciously enough, he left town just as the mission started. So John Boehner really didn’t have the opportunity to criticize the decision until the president’s plane touched down in Washington at 3:35 Wednesday.

GIPPERSON: And when did the speaker go public with his critique?

PYE: At 3:36 Wednesday. He delivered a strongly worded letter to the president, criticizing Barack Hussein Obama’s decision not to consult more closely with Congress and demanding to know his benchmark for success.

GIPPERSON: Let’s go now to video of Speaker Boehner as he made that announcement:

BOEHNER: The American People spoke last November, and we heard them loud and clear. The American People said they wanted us to cut spending. The American People said they wanted smaller government. The American People didn’t say anything about no-fly zones in Libya.

GIPPERSON: We turn now to senior analyst Ace E. Doocy. Who’s right? The speaker? The president? Or the American People?

DOOCY: Well, ha ha, two out of three ain’t bad. Look — John Boehner is exactly right. The president spent five days hobnobbing in Middle America—

GIPPERSON: Central America.

DOOCY: Central America. Whatever. Five days knowing full well — full well! — he was criticism-proof. Well, he couldn’t run forever. Eventually he had to come home and face the music. And the fat lady in this case was ... well, it was John Boehner — not a great analogy but you know what I mean.

GIPPERSON: How is this story playing across America’s airwaves? We turn now to Armstrong Headstrong, host of Red State Radio. Your analysis, Armstrong?

HEADSTRONG: This latest failed foreign policy by this failed president is exactly the type of failed thinking one would expected from the failed policies engendered by a liberal, socialist administration.

GIPPERSON: The president: Back on domestic soil and wrong on foreign policy. Up next: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. What is it with her incessant need to rub elbows with foreign dignitaries? We’ll have the answers. You’re tuned to the Opposition News Network.